This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Newspaper duped by moon hoax story

A newspaper in Bangladesh has apologised for running a story about the moon landings being a hoax that originated from a spoof news site.

The piece on The Onion featured quotes purportedly from Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, stating that he realised he had been "living a lie" after reading conspiracy theories.

"The entire thing was filmed on a sound stage, most likely in New Mexico. I suppose it really was one small step for man, one giant lie for mankind," Armstrong was reported to have said.

The Daily Manab Zamin said: "The report has drawn a lot of attention. We've since learned that the fun site runs false and juicy reports based on a historic incident.

"The moon landing one was such a story, which received numerous hits on the internet. The truth is that Neil Armstrong never gave such an interview. It was made up. We are sorry for publishing the report without checking the information."

The associated editor of the country's New Nation paper, which also ran the story, told AFP: "We thought it was true so we printed it without checking. We didn't know The Onion was not a real news site."

But most US journalists got duped by the community organizer now in the White House....

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Coincidentally this is the newspaper that our beloved McClatchy has outsourced our creative and now the copy desk to. Some things just keep getting better. They don't check the facts either, perfect fit for us...LOL

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